A Guide to the Maverick Family Papers,
1840-1980

A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) settled in San Antonio, Texas, and established himself as a businessman involved in real estate and ranching. He was also active in public life, serving as mayor of San Antonio, a representative in the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the state legislature, and chief justice of Bexar County. He and his wife Mary Ann Adams (1818-1898) had ten children; six survived to adulthood. Their fourth son, William H. Maverick (1847-1923), was particularly active in the management of the family land.

Content Abstract:

Gathering letters and other family items, the Maverick family papers span five generations of a San Antonio, Texas, family. The majority of the papers consist of letters exchanged by family members. The remaining papers consist of an assortment of family documents, including legal documents, financial documents, school papers written by Lewis and William Maverick, travel documents, printed material, genealogical notes, and a few photographs, primarily family group photos.

Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) was born in Pendleton, South Carolina, and spent most of his early years there. After obtaining a degree from Yale University, he worked with his father and studied law, opening a law office in Pendleton in 1829.

The availability of land led Maverick to Texas in 1835, where he soon became involved in the events of the Texas Revolution. Participating in the siege and battle of Bexar in 1835 December, he then remained with the garrison in the Alamo. Maverick left the besieged fort in 1836 March to attend the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he signed the just-adopted Declaration of Independence. Traveling to Alabama after the convention, he married Mary Ann Adams (1818-1898) in 1836 August. Maverick returned to Texas with his family in 1838 and settled in San Antonio, establishing himself as a businessman involved in real estate and ranching. He was active in public life, serving as mayor of San Antonio, a representative in the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the state legislature, and chief justice of Bexar County. One of several prominent citizens taken prisoner by the Mexican Army following its incursion under General Adrian Woll in 1842, Maverick was marched to Perote Prison near Mexico City, where he was held until 1843 March.

Following his release, the Maverick family lived for a few years on Matagorda Bay before returning to San Antonio. Maverick continually added to his land holdings over his lifetime, eventually amassing over 300,000 acres, primarily in West Texas. Though an anti-secessionist, he supported the Confederate government during the Civil War.

Samuel and Mary Maverick were the parents of ten children: Samuel (1837-1936), Lewis Antonio (1839-1866), Agatha (1841-1848), Augusta (1843-1849), George Madison (1845-1913), William Harvey (1847-1923), John Hays (1850-1850), Mary Brown (1851-1891), Albert (1854-1947), and Elizabeth (1857-1859).The Maverick children each received a good education, attending private schools and universities. Three sons, Sam, Lewis, and George, served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Lewis Maverick died as a young adult; the four surviving sons pursued careers in law and business, including the administration of the huge family land holdings.

William H. “Willie” Maverick was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 1847 December 24. During the Civil War he served in the local Home Guard and, in early 1865, joined D. S. Terry’s scouting company. Willie was a student at Bastrop Military Institute in Bastrop, Texas, from 1863 to 1865. After the war he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with his brother George, studying history and business. Willie later studied law at the University of Virginia. Returning to San Antonio, Willie became one of the city’s leading business promoters and real estate developers. He was particularly active in the management of the family’s land holdings; joined by his brother Albert, Willie continued his father’s business by maintaining a Maverick Land Office.

Willie Maverick married Emilie Virginia Chilton (1850-1913) in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1873. Emilie’s parents, Robert Hall Chilton (1817-1879) and Laura Thomson Mason (d. 1911), were members of prominent Virginia families. Emilie’s father was a career military officer who served as Robert E. Lee’s Chief of Staff during the Civil War. Willie and Emilie Chilton Maverick had five children: William Chilton (1875-1932), Lewis (1877-1938), Laura Wise (1878-1956), Robert Van Wyck (1881-1954), and Augustus (1885-1913). The family moved to Europe in 1887, and it was there five years later that Willie banished Emilie and forbade her from seeing her children; the couple never divorced.

Laura Wise Maverick was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 1878 November 22. She was a student at St. Mary’s Hall (1894-1895), a San Antonio Episcopal girl’s school, and Wheaton Female Seminary (1895-1896), located in Norton, Massachusetts. Laura married Dr. Amos Lawson Graves (1870-1943) in San Antonio on 1897 April 19. The couple had two children, Amos Maverick (1898-1956) and Laura Maverick (1899-1980). Leaving and later divorcing her alcoholic husband, Laura took her children to New York; long considered a gifted musician, she performed and toured as a concert singer. In 1912, Laura married Carl Hahn, a cellist, composer, and conductor; the couple later divorced.

Amos Maverick Graves (1898-1956) was a navy pilot during World War I and a student at Yale. He married Therese (Terry) Susan Fischer (1905-1995) in 1929. The couple had three daughters, Laura Maverick Graves Avery (b. 1933), Therese Maverick Graves Coutret (b. 1935), and Olive Maverick Graves Bayard (b. 1937). After her husband's death, Terry Fischer Graves married Gen. Guy Stanley Meloy.

Laura Maverick Graves (1899-1980) enjoyed a career in musical theater, including the Ziegfeld Follies, before eloping with John Paul Ratay, a career military officer, in 1923. The couple was stationed in China for several years before divorcing. Laura married her second husband Peter Cafedjidakis (d. 1954) in 1932. The couple and their adopted son Babis Klimis (Bobby) settled in Greece, where Laura lived until her death in 1980.

Gathering letters and other family items, the Maverick family papers span five generations of a closely-knit San Antonio family.

The great majority of the papers consist of letters exchanged by family members, organized by sender. The earliest letters are those of Samuel Augustus Maverick and Mary Ann Adams Maverick to one another and to their children and those exchanged by siblings. Many of these date from the years immediately before and during the Civil War, when the Mavericks' son William H. “Willie” Maverick was attending the Bastrop Military Institute, and in the post-war years when he attended the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia. The letters sent by his parents mix news of activities in San Antonio, family news, comments on national events, and parental advice. His letters in return recount school news and his progress there, social activities, and money matters. Letters sent by his brothers Lewis and George Maverick, written during their Confederate service in Texas, contain news of their army experiences. There are four letters to Willie Maverick from his sister, Mary Brown Maverick, written while she was attending school in Virginia and traveling in New York. Later family letters include items sent by Mary A. Maverick to her son while traveling or visiting family, a letter from her to her grandson, and a letter sent by Willie Maverick while touring Switzerland.

Another significant body of letters was written by William H. Maverick’s wife, Emilie Chilton Maverick, beginning at the time of their marriage. Most of the letters are to her mother, Laura Mason Chilton, and sister, Laura Chilton Wise, and describe their honeymoon tour of Europe, her life in San Antonio, and a second, lengthy family sojourn in Europe. In addition to letters to her own family, there are those sent to her mother-in-law, Mary A. Maverick. A few letters to her sister and her daughter date from the period after her separation from her husband and children and chronicle her travels in Mexico and the western United States.

Laura Wise Maverick letters include a long series written to her father, William H. Maverick, during her attendance at Wheaton Seminary in Massachusetts and a smaller number of later letters to her father. A few letters from her first husband Amos Graves are also included, as are a substantial number to and from her daughter Laura Maverick Graves Cafedjidakis.

Letters received by family members or sent to people outside the family are grouped together and include Samuel A. Maverick’s letter to Texas governor James W. Throckmorton seeking a military academy appointment for his son, items exchanged by members of the Chilton family, and letters to Mary Maverick concerning the service of Samuel A. Maverick to Texas.

The remaining papers consist of an assortment of family documents, including legal documents, financial documents, school papers written by Lewis and William Maverick, travel documents, printed material, genealogical notes, and a few photographs, primarily family group photos. A leather wallet, in which some of the family documents had been stored, is the lone artifact in the collection.

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